Time In The Mist
by FaeMe
Summary: There was a war. There were hopes. There were regrets. Then, there was the impossible. What would one do, if one could go back in time? An unchronological story of love and loss, in the mists of time. AU. All Human. BoLo. Fantasy/Romance/Drama. Multi-Chapter. Rated T for now, might change.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

**A prologue, or what my friend would call it, a _Teaser_.**

**I read "Previews" are not allowed on this site?…oh well!...I needed to get this one out.**

**AU. All Human. BoLo and OC. Fantasy/Romance/Drama. Multi-Chapter.**

**(The Price of Retribution remains my main project, so this one will be a slow work in progress (with real chapters).**

**Stay tuned.**

**Please review this Chapter 1 drabble.**

**Thank you.**

**XXXXX**

Time to save. Time to kill. Time to love.

Time to live.

Would there be a time to relive the time?

We won the war. But did we really?

For everything we've lost?

If I could go back in time, I'd meet you sooner,

To love you longer.

If I could go back in time, I'd make sure you know,

You are my priority.

If I could go back,

For us, I'd cheat time.

If I could go back,

For us, I'd cheat life, I'd cheat death.

If I could go back,

I'd give my life,

To save yours.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: A special Thank You to the 4 readers who asked more of this story ;)**

**Here's a real chapter, I hope you'll all like it. Sorry for the mistakes and errors.**

**Please review. Merci!**

**(The Price of Retribution will be updated soon too, I haven't abandoned it.)**

**XXXXX**

At the far end of the jetty, a woman leaned on the guard rail, her dark brown hair blown in the wind and ocean breeze caressing her face, she looked onto the horizon and gazed at the sun. And she waited.

For the sun to set, she waited.

To catch a glimpse of her, she waited.

**xxxxx**

As she slowly opened her eye, Bo Dennis knew she had had too many drinks again the previous night given that her head was still pounding. She looked down to the naked woman asleep beneath her and stared at her for a brief moment, not able to recall her name. In fact, she didn't know the blond girl in her bed. It wasn't Cindy, or Sandra, or even Jen. It was just another random nameless chick she brought home last night.

She slowly removed the woman's arm from across her chest and rolled out of bed. Not without some difficulties, she dragged herself to the bathroom and into the shower. The warm water flowing down her face reminded her of its benefit after a night like that one. One of many. Many.

After cleaning herself up as much as her lamentable motivation would allow her to, she got changed into one of the few clean shirts and jeans she found on top of her laundry basket. She downed a glass of cold water and looked outside through the kitchen window. It was gray. A gray day which fitted with her mood. A day similar to every other day.

On her way out she threw a twenty dollar bill she had found in her leather jacket pocket onto the dining table, for the stranger still lying naked in her bed to get a taxi home.

**xxxxx**

Bo pushed The Dal doors open and went straight to the bar. She didn't bother looking around inside the pub. "A glass of whiskey." she ordered.

"Bo, I bet you just got out of bed. I don't think you should get a drink right away." The bartender firmly suggested.

"Dyson, I'm not paying you to tell me what I should or shouldn't do. Just give me that glass!" Bo snapped and gave him an icy stare.

Reluctant he was, but Dyson obliged and served his boss what she requested. Then he looked at her, watched her relentlessly destroying herself, day after day. "It's gonna kill you one day Bo…"

"That wouldn't be such a bad thing. Would it? It wouldn't be the worst." Bo said after her second sip. She swung on the stool and turned to the big screen TV mounted on the wall across the bar, pretending to be watching the soccer game. She had no interest into starting a conversation.

Dyson watched her. He had seen his childhood friend become a beautiful woman. He had also seen the strong woman become a tenacious leader. Then, he'd seen the once coriaceous leader become a ghost of her former self.

It had been ten years. Ten years Dyson had watched the broken woman wrecking her body, mind and soul.

He was there when she had led a group of rebels against the incumbent regime. He had fought by her side among the insurgents. He had helped her capture the tyrant and brought him to the revolutionary tribunal for justice to be done. He had sung the victory hymn with the people and seen the glory in their eyes. He had witnessed the people's hopes and dreams saved by Bo's own hopes and dreams.

But all that euphoria had been short-lived for Bo. Her hopes and dreams were abruptly stolen from her when she came back that day from the final battle, to a lifeless Lauren.

Helpless, he had watched her cry her life away. Holding the doctor's limp body in her arms, she blamed herself for her death, until this day.

But there were worst. The knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Lauren's death had devastated Bo even more; it was her who was supposed to be there at that moment. It was Bo who was supposed to be killed.

Since then, Bo had been battling her own internal battle; she had since tried to survive the survivor's guilt. A terrible feeling that had claimed the lives of many before her.

But just when she thought she could do it, that she could forgive herself and build a life for herself without Lauren, as sad and miserable as it may be, another devastating new came to rip her heart off once again.

Lauren was five weeks pregnant. With their baby.

The baby they had conceived despite Bo's uncertainty and concerns. The baby Lauren had wanted so badly, Bo had finally agreed to get third party's help and give it a try. Bo's baby was growing in Lauren's womb. Their baby already had a beating heart. The one Bo had only known about too late.

For five years Dyson had kept it from her. He had known it but had promised Lauren he wouldn't tell Bo until Lauren was ready to tell Bo herself. Lauren didn't want this baby news to distract Bo from her mission. She didn't want to draw Bo's mind and focus away from her calling. It would have been the last thing Lauren would have wanted. The last thing she had wished.

She had wanted to tell Bo herself, when time came. That time never came.

Bo had confronted Dyson and had hated him for so long. But deep down she hated herself more than anyone else she could possibly hate. She hated herself for not paying attention to the unspoken words. How had she not seen anything at all? When the memories of some specific moments with Lauren played back in her head, she should have known. But her attention had been on something else, on many things else, and not on the one person who had really counted for her, the woman standing right by her side, day in, day out, fighting the same war in her own way. Bo had seen nothing.

However, what had killed her soul was that she had, indirectly, killed her own baby. Had Lauren survived, the baby would not have, because Bo had secretly wished for the embryo to never become anything more than a simple, invisible poppy seed. She had not wanted to create a life, or brought any new human life into this cruel world she was fighting in and against. She had not wanted to leave to their children a world where having hopes and dreams were a crime. It was not the right time. Not when she couldn't even see the end of it. So she had blamed herself for the baby's death and she had felt Lauren had been taken away from her because she didn't want that baby; Lauren had died so Bo's wish would come true. They both died and it was her fault.

Since then, Bo had desperately tried to bury the self-inflicted pain in her now empty heart and drown her sorrows and regrets in alcohol and meaningless sex. That was what she lived on. That was how she survived. And along the way, she had eventually thrown any values and principles left in her out the window of her life.

Helpless again, Dyson watched her shatter that life away. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her smile or the last time her eyes had glowed.

"The big celebration is tonight. Everybody will be expecting you. I'm fine you don't help me with the preparations, but just don't show up already smashed."

Bo turned her eyes away from the TV and stared at Dyson, "Wouldn't it be the perfect reason to get tanked up all day, from dawn until dusk, and dusk until dawn? Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Glory City by Bo Dennis and the gang?" She turned her attention back onto the TV, emptied her glass and said, "Don't you worry. I'll bring my best mood with me tonight and everybody will be happy. I won't get wasted…yet." She tossed the empty glass toward Dyson, "Another one…make it double."

**xxxxx**

The streets were occupied by young partygoers and by just as many older veterans. They toasted and drank to freedom. It was a way to leave marks of their existence for generations to come. For they who would want to know, this generation of citizens took part in a rebellion that led to the liberation of the city. They had written a page in history. In their own way, they wanted to commemorate this day.

But this day, Bo had resented it, every single year for ten years. This day more than any other day, for everything she had lost.

Earlier, Bo had made an appearance at the pub and had put on the most believable fake smile on her face for everybody to see. Everybody had come for her; the Rebel compatriots, her ex-companions-in-arms and a hand full of admirers and veterans, they all came to celebrate in her company. This year for the 10th anniversary, even the Mayor, Mrs. Marquise, was at her pub to personally thank Bo for her courageous and heroic actions that had allowed all these people to stand tall and proudly chant today. It was a change from the previous year when the then new Mayor Marquise had personally thanked her for the first time, privately, behind closed doors, on top of the Mayor's office desk.

Bo was the toast of the evening and had already had a few drinks, many drinks, when she had decided she had had enough of the crowd and it was time to go into retreat. So she quietly exited from the pub. Amanda, the tall blond lawyer who lived two streets down the road from the pub, had stopped Bo on her way out and had tried to bring the celebrated woman back to her place, to which Bo had almost given in, but then she had decided against it. Bo wanted to be alone.

So here she was, on the street in the middle of the nigh. Bottle of vodka in hand, one she took from The Dal, she walked toward the city park earlier occupied by teenage kids. There, she sat on the bench across the giant tree, the World Tree of Life they called. Across the bench on the other side, a big sculpture in cast bronze statue of a woman riding a horse stood tall on a high pedestal. It was intended to represent the Victory Day, a mix representation of Joan of Arc, and herself. They sculpted her in a modern uniform and instead of wielding a sword, her statue brandished a C7 Rifle. On the pedestal, the inscription read "Ysabeau Dennis, The Savior of Glory City." It also mentioned the victory date under her name. Right below, a large space was left empty as if it was reserved for her date of birth and date of death to be engraved one day, when time would come.

Bo remembered she felt no pride, no joy, simply nothing, when the statue was revealed to her five years ago by the previous Mayor.

She took a swig from the bottle and stood up. She approached the statue and looked up at the face, her face, then fixed it for a long moment. A smirk appeared at the corner of her lips as she read the word "Savior". She sighed and looked down to the bottle in her hand. She downed it in one long swallow, took a step back, let out an angry scream and with a big swing of her arm, the bottle went crashing onto the bronze horse and exploded.

Still breathing heavily, she closed her eyes and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked up once again at the statue and took a deep breath to ease the anger that had built up in her chest a moment ago.

Head down and hands in her jacket pockets, Bo was about to leave the park when she noticed, from the corner of her eye, shimmering lights coming from an alley. Everything was closed at this time in the area, so she decided to go see where the lights came from.

She approached the short alley and went all the way to the other end. A store was still opened. The lights came from an Antique shop. "Come in and find what you have been looking for and other unique surprises" was written in yellow paint on the window glass. Bo wondered how she'd never seen the shop before. There were brighter lights inside the store. Curious, she pulled on the handle and opened the door.

Bo quickly scanned the store. No staff around to welcome her, no one at all. Silence reigned over the small shop; the tickling from the old grandfather clock was the only sound that could be heard.

The shop stocked a wide variety of inventory. Unlike what she had thought it to be, a junk shop, there were indeed many unique items in display. It certainly made it a nice place for treasure hunt. Items went from valuable silverware to antique guitars. One would probably find their diamond in the rough. Bo found a very old photograph of the founder of Glory City. She studied the picture closely.

"Hi, did you find something interesting?" A voice from behind Bo asked gently.

Bo turned and was greeted by a old man. He was short, unusually short. However, his composure would not let anyone doubt his authority or the influence he could have on people.

"No." Bo looked around and asked the old man, "How long has the shop been here?"

"Forever." Simply, he answered.

"Hmmm, strange, I've never seen it before."

He smiled at her, "People only see what they want to see."

This made Bo slightly raised her eyebrows as she didn't expect this type of indirect answer. She walked from one display cabinet to another, screening the jewelry, small daggers and vintage radios.

"I read that here, I can find anything I've been looking for. It's not nice to lie to customers." She said without looking up at the graybeard man in slim fit leather vest as antique as the gramophone sitting on the counter.

"I'm not lying Bo."

Bo stopped and gaped at the old man. "Do I know you? How do you know my name?"

The man smiled wide. "I'm Trick. And how can I not know Bo Dennis? We celebrated our hero today, all day, and all night. You celebrated too I see." Trick said with a teasing tone.

"Pfff, I'm no hero. Don't believe everything you hear Trick."

"So Bo, what is it that you've been looking for?"

Bo found a hand carved Chinese armchair from the late 19th century and slouched into it. "Answers. I've been looking for answers. Answers to the hows, the whys and wherefores, the what ifs, of all the things I did or didn't do. And you obviously don't have them here."

Trick went to sit on the other armchair across Bo. "How would that help you, if you knew the answers?"

"I would…be able to make peace with myself…I think."

"If you could go back in time, what would you do?"

Bo closed her eyes and sighed "There are things, many things I would've done differently. My life would've been totally different...I could have been happy."

"Would you really want to know what would have happened if you did things differently."

Bo opened her eyes, "Yes."

Trick leaned forward and fixed Bo intensely. "Ysabeau Dennis, is this really what you want?"

"Yes."

The old man leaned back in his chair and turned his eyes to the door. Bo followed his gaze.

Nothing could be seen through the windows. A thick fog had suddenly formed and covered the entire alley, that was earlier clear of even mist.

Confused, Bo slowly stood up from the chair and walked toward the entrance. She pushed the door open and stepped into the fog. She could hear the door behind her close, but there was no other sound than the hunting silence of the night. She walked deeper into the fog, not seeing or knowing where she was going, but her feet just kept moving forward.

The fog finally started to dissipate after a few minutes. Bo wound up back on the dark street. However, it wasn't any street she took earlier coming to the park. She looked around again. She did not recognize anything of her surroundings. Something made her feel uneasy; somehow, it felt like a déjà vu.

"Bo, what are you doing?"

Bo's heart skipped a beat. Every muscles of her body tensed up all at once. She swallowed hard and then, she slowly turned to the familiar voice behind her, calling for her.

"L…Lauren?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi guys, here's one more chapter for TITM. The next one will be for TPOR. Thank you for your patience.**

**I hope you like the story so far.**

**Please review/comment and keep me motivated. Thank you!**

**XXXXX**

"Everybody is waiting for you." Lauren hurried over to Bo, gave her a quick smile and took her hand. "I came looking for you –" Lauren noticed Bo's paleness, "Bo, what's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost…"

Bo blinked in confusion, shook her head and blinked again, wondering if her vision or her mind was playing tricks on her. The woman was right there, holding her hand, displaying a concerned smile and her big brown eyes searching for hers. _Could this be real?_ Hesitant at first, Bo slowly moved her hand to the other woman's face and ran a thumb over her chin. Her index smoothed down Lauren's eyebrow, then down to caress her cheek. "Lauren…is it…is it really you?" Bo asked in a murmur as if she had lost her voice and hadn't realized she got it back.

"Honey, are you feeling okay?"

"I…I don't know…Am I?"

"Bo…" Lauren cupped Bo's face, "You're worrying me…"

Bo looked around and appeared more lost and confused than ever. Was it the amount of alcohol she had? Simply too drunk to even realize she was dreaming? But needless to say, it felt scarily real. She looked back at Lauren, "I've missed you so much Lauren…" Bo's voice almost broke over the last word, over the woman's name.

"Okay baby, let's get you back to the compound. I'm going to give you a quick checkup.

**xxxxx**

In the exam room, Lauren sat Bo on the table and took the blood pressure cuff and other medical tools out. She was about to start a short physical examination with her stethoscope when her cellphone rang.

"Yes, I found her. We are in the lab..."

The lab, Bo recognized every aspect of this room, not in detail as Lauren would, but she had spent many, many hours here with Lauren over the course of their relationship, their short life together. She had listened to Lauren's science monologue when she was conducting her researches. Bo had never understood a thing about it but never got bored watching Lauren do her things. Because of the lack of spaces and resources, the lab also served as medical exam room, so Bo had had many occasions to end up here as a patient too unfortunately. Given the fact that she had decided a few years earlier that she was not going to live a life of a gentle civilian, but one of a warrior, she might had injured herself more than once.

"I'm running some test on her right now, she doesn't look…too well." Lauren spoke on her phone but her eyes never left Bo. She observed the woman who had been acting a little strange earlier, acting even stranger now. Seemingly unaware of the world around her, Bo looked like a lost girl.

Lauren quickly ended the call. Seeing the look of confusion and amazement on Bo's face, she went to place herself between Bo's legs and put her hands on Bo's thighs, rubbing them gently.

A gesture Bo had also missed, when Lauren tried to comfort her, to relax her mind and body when she needed it the most. As the leader of a rebel group, Bo had never allowed herself to show her vulnerability but somehow, Lauren always knew when Bo needed comfort and with a simple touch, Lauren would heal anything. Bo had always been the one to have this effect on other people, almost as if she was born with a supernatural power, but whenever she was the one struggling inside, only Lauren had that power to heal her mind and body, any silent pain she could be having.

Bo could feel the warmth from the palms of Lauren's hands through her jeans and she craved for more of her touch. More of Lauren.

With a soft voice, Lauren asked, "Bo, tell me, what's wrong?" and she searched for Bo's gaze. Bo was still lost in her thoughts. Her thoughts were somewhere in a far distance place, a place Lauren had never been nor did she think Bo had been before either.

"I had a couple of drinks." Bo finally said.

"I know, I can smell it, and you had quite a few." Lauren looked down and took Bo's hand in hers. "As unusual as it is for you to…drink so much, especially now, no one would blame you. You've put so much stress and pressure upon yourself, you've been working non-stop on the planning with the guys, it's only normal you would need to decompress somehow, at some point."

"Have I told you I've missed you? It's just been…so long…" With a lump in her throat, Bo tried to fight back tears. She tightened her grip on Lauren's hand, not wanting to ever let go.

Lauren chuckled lightly. "Bo, we had hardly been separated for more than a few hours at a time in the last two years. But I miss you too…every day, every hour." She looked down to their joined hands. "I don't know what I would do without you." brought their hands to her lips and kissed Bo's fingers. "What would we all do without you?…"

They stared at each other in silence, until a knock on the door disrupted their moment.

Lauren gave Bo a kiss on the cheek before turning to open the door.

Bo still couldn't believe this was real; the kiss she just received was real. It was real in her mind.

Dyson walked in. "Where has she been?" he asked Lauren.

"Dyson! You're here too? And…you can see Lauren too?"

Dyson looked at Bo, then back at Lauren, "What's wrong with her?"

"She…she just need some rest."

"Everybody is waiting for her."

"Well, you will have to postpone that meeting. Tonight, she won't be able to think properly, even less make plans with you and take major decisions."

"D-day is approaching rapidly Lauren, we can't afford to waste time."

"I know Dyson, but she needs that rest. _Badly_. She'll be okay tomorrow. You can go and reassure the others. I'll take care of her."

"Alright, I hope you're right. I'll call you in the morning to see how she's doing." Before leaving, Dyson observed Bo for a moment. Indeed, she didn't look normal and acted a little strange he thought, as the woman touched every single tool on the table as if it was the first time she saw such objects and pet every surface her hand found.

Once Dyson had left, Lauren came back to Bo and smiled, "Come on babe, let's go home and get you to bed for a good, well deserved night sleep." Lauren said, cupping the other woman's chin with her slim fingers.

**xxxxx**

After getting Bo out of her leather jacket and jeans and into comfy night clothing after a warm shower, Lauren tucked her in bed. She put a kiss on Bo's forehead and turned to leave the bedroom.

"Lauren, where are you going? Don't go."

"I was gonna let you sleep and go read my –"

"Stay with me…please."

Seeing Bo's shimmering eyes, pleading with her, Lauren had no choice; she walked back to the bed and lay down with Bo, under the warm covers, "Okay, let's have a good night sleep, shall we?"

Bo gazed at Lauren in awe and wonder, and inhaled the sweet scent of the silky blond hair. Her index traced over Lauren's face, studying every features as if to memorize them again, lest she would forget them one day.

"Do you remember the first time we met?"

"You mean…when we first met officially? When you and your group abducted me that day? It was certainly no coincidental encounter, but yes I do. I remember it so clearly as if it was yesterday." Lauren chuckled. "And I'm glad you did. In 24 hours you convinced me to join you and your group, to be part of something bigger than…than anything I could've imagined" Bo's hand in hers, she tightened her grasp and smiled. "And I've never looked back."

"But what if you had known all the risks? That joining us in our fight might…might one day…cost your life?" Bo felt the lump in her throat again as she said it.

"I knew all the risks, Bo. I knew the dangers. I made a well thought out decision, a life changing one, but most importantly, I listened and trusted my heart. I've never regretted anything, and never will. And don't _you_ ever regret anything Bo Dennis…" Lauren put her palm against Bo's chest, "…because everything you did, you did it with your heart. I know you will continue to do so no matter what. This is what I love about you. This is why I love you."

Bo tried to absorb every word Lauren said. It made her happy to hear it, but deeply sad at the same time. "But what if –"

"Shhhh…no more buts, no more ifs." Lauren wrapped her arm around Bo's waist and pulled her in, locking her in an embrace. "I chose this life, I chose you, and everything that came with it." She put a tender kiss on Bo's lips and smiled fondly. "Sleep now."

Feeling her eyelids become heavy, Bo tried in vain to fight the fatigue, afraid that the incredible woman cuddling with her would suddenly vanish like a dream, but it didn't take long for Bo to surrender.

With the sweet taste of Lauren on her lips, Bo drifted off to sleep.

**xxxxx**

"Lauren…Lauren."

"Bo!"

"Lauren…where are you?..." Bo mumbled. "Lauren!" She finally woke up in a jump, her heart racing in her chest.

"Bo, it's okay." The blond woman said, putting her hand on Bo's shoulder, "It was just a bad dream."

When Bo's vision cleared, she turned to the naked woman under the sheets, "Amanda…"

Confusion and dismay took over her. She was in Amanda's room, in Amanda's bed, naked as well.

"How did I get here? Did we leave the pub together last night...right after the celebration?

Amanda gave Bo an odd look. "No…but you came knocking on my door at 4 am and we…you know…spent the rest of the morning…well, you needed…female company. You…you don't remember?"

The expression on Amanda's face didn't hide her disappointment, but Bo was too deep in her thoughts to notice.

_This can't be. It felt so real. I swear it was real. Lauren…_

Bo didn't know what to answer to her late night, female bed companion, so she thought it would be wiser not to answer at all. She slowly got out of bed and started to get dress with pieces of her clothing as she found them one by one, scattered in the bedroom. "Sorry Amanda...gotta go."

"I know. You always do."

In that moment, Bo felt slightly bad. In fact, it made her sad to hear Amanda say it like that.

"Don't worry, I won't be expecting any call from you." Amanda said with a low tone, trying to convince herself not to be foolish, especially when it came to her unexpected growing feelings for the mysterious, unreadable brunette.

"I'll see you around." Bo looked up to the woman with a certain regret, turned and left.

**xxxxx**

On the way home, Bo made a small detour and took the direction of the city park. The sun had already fully come up and it hurt her eyes, but surprisingly she didn't feel hungover despite the amount of alcohol she had the previous night. She located the alley and went all the way to the other end again. The shop was there, but it was closed.

_Trick's shop_. _Come in and find what you have been looking for and other unique surprises_ was still written in yellow paint on the window glass. But inside, the shop was empty.

Completely.

"What…the _Hell_!"


End file.
